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I'm looking for an extremely lightweight CMS that allows for creating custom data structures, with image upload and some admin panel functionality, where information can be edited and added on some frontend. Is there something like that out there?

… extremely lightweight CMS that allows for creating custom data structures, with image upload and some admin panel functionality, where information can be edited and added on some frontend…

Everything you described is exactly what makes Kirby so great! I'm currently remaking my portfolio using Kirby, and it is amazing how powerful and customizable the backend is. Especially for Portfolio pieces, where you might want to have granular control over every field. Unlike Wordpress, you can also customize what type of fields your front-end uses for different sections. i.e. radio buttons for categories, in-line file uploading for featured/hero images, etc. Best of all you can download it for free. The only limitation is your coding ability (you need to be comfortable modifying the backend slightly, but it's nothing too complicated). Sorry if I sound like I'm gushing – I've been using it for the last few weeks and I'm kind of blown away.

I used Craft CMS for one of my recent projects and I was quite satisfied with its versatility and simplicity. Unfortunately their getting started guide isn't very helpful at all, but they created multiple videos about their features.

You should check out http://getcockpit.com One can build custom data structures and stuff, it is also easy to install and get started. It's not really a cms that will create pages for you. You basically create the php pages yourself and then include it as a backend for that page. It can be used for so many things really.

I'd recommend Perch highly. We use both Perch and Perch Runway (fantastic for larger projects) for all our clients. It's lovely to work with and the clients find it easy to use. It's a really robust but lightweight CMS.

I've used Ghost for a few side projects and it's great for simple websites. The templating uses Mustache which is very easy to pick up and build with, the editor is well designed and very usable, and the team update and add new features regularly. I'd highly recommend it.

I don't mind using an API. The admin panel seems a bit too limited though. I would like custom fields for just an image for example. As an example, I want to be able to define a cover image, a logo and a description for a page. It doesn't seem like there's a straight forward way for me to do something like that with Contentful.